A wheelchair-using convicted felon opened fire on two Atlantic City police officers before being killed in a shootout, according to body-camera footage released Wednesday.
It was the second time police had shot Donald Gardner, 52. Officers previously wounded him in 2013, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Atlantic City police and the Atlantic County SWAT team were executing a search warrant at Gardner’s home on June 2 when he fired through the door as officers breached it, prosecutors said.
Atlantic City Police Department Officer Robert Reynolds responded by firing several rounds through the open doorway, striking Gardner.
Gardner, who was also known as Donald Capriotti, had a lengthy criminal record. He died at the scene.
The two injured officers were taken to a hospital for treatment.
“Upon arrival at the residence, officers observed that the front door was initially open, but was then closed by an individual inside the residence,” the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said in a statement.
“Officers announced their presence and purpose at the door and then used a mechanical device to breach the door.
“As the door opened, Mr. Gardner, who was inside the residence, fired multiple gunshots at the officers.”
Sgt. Christian Ivanov, one of the wounded officers, survived a life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg that damaged his femoral artery and caused severe blood loss.
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He was released from the hospital two weeks later, 6abc Action News reported.
The second officer was shot in the head, but his helmet helped protect him.
Authorities recovered a handgun at the scene. The prosecutor’s office said the circumstances of the shooting and the manner of Gardner’s death remain under investigation.
The June confrontation marked at least the second time police had shot Gardner. He was paralyzed from the waist down after being wounded in a police shooting on Nov. 7, 2013, NJ.com reported.
Gardner was sentenced to 18 years in state prison in 2014 after pleading guilty to first-degree possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and second-degree possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to the outlet.
He was released on parole in 2023.
Gardner had previously pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the 1993 killing of a friend. He served 18 years of a 30-year sentence before being released on parole in May 2012, NJ.com reported.
Following the shooting, Gardner’s mother, Tina Capriotti, told Fox 29 that her son had been left dead in his wheelchair. She said she wanted answers about what happened.
“I want to know why they killed my son, that’s what I want to know,” Capriotti said.
“They left him here until 2 o’clock in the morning dead in a wheelchair and they didn’t give me one minute, one minute to see my son.”
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